Manufacturers of packaged goods utilize various techniques and types of equipment for preparing products for packaging, bundling and shipping. Often products need to be reoriented (e.g., upended) when entering or during these operations. Likewise, stacking operations are often necessary to provide the desired number and configuration of products. Known orienting and stacking equipment and processes have limitations that inhibit reliability and efficiency. For instance, many times, different product orientations have different degrees of difficulty, require different process steps and/or have different failure modes. For instance, reorienting a product into a less stable orientation (e.g., from lying on its widest side to lying on a narrower side) is generally more difficult than reorienting a product into a more stable position. Consequently, when manufacturers desire to upend to a less stable orientation, additional process steps or equipment may be necessary to ensure the product lands at the desired orientation and remains in said orientation during subsequent conveyance or other processing. While these additional steps assist with reliability, they can undermine efficiency and add no value when the change in orientation does not warrant the additional steps.
Moreover, known processes typically require upending processes to occur separately and on different equipment from stacking processes. As a result, products have to be moved from one process to the other, involving additional equipment and time and thereby undermining efficiency and reliability, and utilizing a significant amount of floor space.
Therefore, there is a need for equipment and/or a method that permit reorientation and/or stacking of products in a reliable and efficient manner. Further, there is a need for equipment and/or a method that reduces the amount of process steps and/or equipment components necessary for reorientation and/or stacking process. Further still, there is a need for a streamlined, simpler apparatus and/or process that reduces the amount of space, capital costs, and maintenance required for stacking and/or reorienting transformations. Likewise, there is a need for an apparatus that can combine stacking and reorientation operations such that one or both operations can be performed at a given time.